As you may have figured by now, we feel pretty strongly about living well- would be a strange way of branding if we only felt lukewarm about the idea- but we also understand that the concept of our well being is actually a fairly vague idea in our current culture and it comes with a lot of connotations. So I wanted to take a minute to share where we're working from here at b'well.
The power of awareness changes our well being.
Dr. Dan Siegel
When we mention well being we are not talking about the same thing as happiness; we are talking about the ability to experience ALL the emotions human being are capable of (which yes, includes happiness!) Even though I'm more of a cake person, the metaphor that comes to mind is a pie and its ingredients: well being is the pie and happiness, sadness, anger, joy, jealousy, fear, elation, etc... our feelings are the ingredients.
So we invite our clients to b'real, to really be in their experiences without needing to pull out because of discomfort. We do this through identifying the most frequently avoided experiences or emotions and we learn about the myths our mind is spreading to convince us we can't handle these things. We ask client to then identify what they value and notice when these avoidance tactics cost them the stuff that really matters.
This learning process allows people to then b'connected: to their selves, their values, and their lives. They begin practicing presence over avoidance, noticing how much they truly can withstand without needing to seek false safety. This connection is what allows our clients to engage in their lives rather than miss out on certain experiences, relationships, or emotions. It builds what behavioral scientists call "psychological flexibility" and when we have it, this flexibility opens all of us to more of our world. And this is of course leads clients to live beyond the goal of being happy and allows them the freedom to b'well.
We look forward to sharing more about our approach here on the b'well blog. In the meantime, be in touch if you would like to learn more about your own well being!
